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Spiritual Practices: from Qigong to Prayer
The theme for the week has been Spiritual Practices, so I thought it would be good to close out the week with a laundry list of the possible. I’ll offer as examples my current practices that I do on a regular basis:
Qigong: Daily. I’m spending anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes every day doing either 5-Element Form or Jeff Primack’s Level 1 Form (which I’m also certified to teach and will be starting my classes very soon).
Yoga: At least every other day, at least 20 minutes. I also just returned from my Svaroopa Yoga class with my good friend Dharma, an excellent teacher. This is nearly a two hour class each week in this new to me style of gentle, yet very effective (I can feel tonight’s work already!) yoga.
Morning Pages: Daily. I write three long-hand pages every day in the style recommended by Julia Cameron in The Artist’s Way. I find this practice to be incredibly grounding, a way to purge, a way to jump start the day, a way to record feelings, events, dreams, visions, plans, hopes, basically just about anything that comes to mind (or heart). I sometimes channel consciousness that just comes.
Poetry: I often write a poem or two through each week. I publish one here on the blog every Monday. And I read poetry often. I love this other-dimensional way of writing and expressing.
Divination: Daily. Currently I draw two cards, one from the Goddess Guidance Oracle Cards by Doreen Virtue, and one from the Crowley Tarot Thoth Deck. I use these cards to get an intuitive sense of the energies of the day. I write a page of notes about what they mean to me and how they relate to one-another.
As another form of divination, on new moons I cast an I Ching Gua for the moonth to gain intuitive insight on the energies for the upcoming moon cycle.
Chanting: I wrote in yesterday’s post about Mantra Meditation. I do this frequently, currently daily following Deva Premal & Miten’s 21-Day Journey.
These are my current daily practices. I spend about two hours each morning on these practices. And I consider them all forms of prayer. They are definitely forms of an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with a deity, an object of worship, or a spiritual entity through deliberate communication. (from the Wikipedia definition of prayer).
OK, I may be stretching a point a bit here, but the “spiritual entity” I communicate with is the Universe, Source, the All, and other ways of expressing or labeling something greater than I and yet also inside me!
I do sometimes wonder if I am over-doing it; if I am spending too much time at my practices. But they do serve me in many ways. I feel we are all on a path of expansion, evolution and transformation. Why else bother with all these sometimes hard lessons we keep encountering and, hopefully, learning! My practices help me through the changes, support my struggles, offer ways to feel my feelings, stretch my intuitive sensibilities, open me to embrace the greatness of human consciousness and the Divine Consciousness that is there for immediate access if we sharpen our methods to encounter and listen to the wisdom available.
How much time is this worth? For me it is priceless. Maybe I am not devoting enough time to my practices!
Enjoy your weekend. Find time to practice!
What Is Your Spiritual Practice? –Richard’s Commentary
We just got back from our local Spiritual Exploration Group here in Maryland. This is a monthly meeting of like-minded folks who we bring together to discuss spiritual topics of many colors. Our mantra is we get together for Discussion, not Dogma.
Tonight’s topic was Prayer. And we explored the many dimensions of what this means for people both as a word and as a practice. We began with our childhood remembrances of what prayer meant to us and our experience of prayer. We considered the Wikipedia definition:
Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with a deity, an object of worship, or a spiritual entity through deliberate communication.
And we discussed where we are now with prayer as a way of “connecting” to something greater than ourselves but that we find inside ourselves. We spoke of prayer as a way of generating and offering our energy for positive connection and transformation, or “lifting to a higher vibrational frequency.”
We even discussed the possible existence of “dark prayer” – negatively focused energy to counter the evolutionary path of human consciousness; and we wondered if prayer can be judged in this way if it is truly a “deliberate communication with a deity”! Is a negative prayer even a true prayer?
I bring this up because prayer is certainly a spiritual practice. For me the word sometimes has a negative impact because it is overloaded with memories of childhood when reciting the “Lord’s Prayer” seemed so rote and lifeless. As a young child required to memorize the prayer I wasn’t even clear on the meanings of the words.
Then it hit me! I, with 46-thousand of my closest friends, am tuning into Deva Premal & Miten every day to chant ancient verses from Holy Scriptures. They are offering a 21-Day Mantra Meditation Journey that began April 23. Today is Day-10. (You can sign up for this free daily practice here: Deva & Premal. And you can catch up because all of the chants they have shared so far are still posted.
So, I sit, eyes closed, each morning in a very open and loving state to chant, often Sanskrit, words I am not familiar with, over and over in a “rote-like” way. How is this so different from my childhood experience of reciting the Lord’s Prayer in a rote-like way?
OK, here’s the thing about that: I am in an altered state when I chant “Om Shanti Om” 108 times. I move into that state of true inner peace invoked by this mantra. I remember where my mind was when I “prayed” the Lord’s prayer as a kid – anywhere but on “Our Father”! I wasn’t seeking to develop “rapport” with “Him”; but with these mantras I am seeking to develop a rapport with the energies invoked by their vibrations, their words composed of sacred syllables, the transcendent quality of the constructs and how they sound when chanted, whispered, or just thought and felt as they vibrate through my being.
One of my Spiritual Practices is to chant. I have learned a number of chants from different traditions using languages from Sanskrit to Navaho. I have been ritually initiated into several. And they all transport me to another “place” where I can transcend this physical dimension of time, space and my body and commune with Spirit. And for me this is the best form of prayer to which I can aspire.
If you are at all interested in chanting and mantra meditation as a form of prayer I invite you with all my good wishes to tune in to Deva Premal & Miten. Here’s the link again:
21-Day Mantra Meditation Journey
All blessings!
ROSEMARY’S EXPLORATION: What Is Your Spiritual Practice?
Do you meditate every day? Are you following a yoga or qigong or tai chi practice? Do you go for a walk in nature and call it a spiritual practice? Do you write in a journal?
How do you feed yourself spiritually every day?
So often we jump out of bed and start getting wrapped up in our to-do list. We have lists of lists and feel ready to spring into action checking things off. And, yet, at the end of the day, is that activity really the most important way you could spend your time? If you run out of day before you run out of to-do’s have you really spent your time wisely?
Let’s look at 2013 as the Year of Transformation that it truly is. What are we transforming?
How high on your priority list is your spiritual practice? If it’s not number one then maybe it’s time to re-examine those priorities.
This isn’t about religion but about the total YOU, the whole-istic YOU, the YOU who lives on Planet Earth in 2013 for a Purpose. The YOU who was born for a reason. The spiritual YOU lives in the Universe as a particular being at a particular moment in the life of the Universe so that you might play your part in the unfolding plan that the Universe has been revealing for millennia. You fit into a much bigger picture than your to-do list would indicate.
And every day it is good to check in and see how you’re doing with regard to that unfolding plan. Remember, this life isn’t about what you are DOING, but who you are BEING. Does your to-do list sometimes get in the way of your being you?
Allow yourself to define your spiritual practice by what feeds your soul. What uplifts you? How do you want to feel today?
It doesn’t really matter what you choose as your spiritual practice so long as it is important to your spirit and you do it consistently. Do you pray? Just when you need something or in thanksgiving or praise? Do you exercise? Is it just for your bodily health (or the eye candy at the gym?) or are you honoring your physical body and its assistance in your fulfilling your purpose on Earth?
Meditation can be a simple, short time to tap into something greater, to ask your higher self for guidance about the day. Of course, it can also be more elaborate, take more time, be more formal and contain even richer wisdom for you.
The Eastern practices, like qigong, tai chi and yoga, invite you to connect to your body and your breath in specific ways so that your energy can be organized for your day. Sometimes just tapping into ‘the feeling state of the Divine’ can bring you joy and peace for your day.
Choose a practice that you will commit to doing every day this week. Maybe it’s drawing a card from an oracle deck, or sitting with your morning coffee and watching the birds at the feeder outside your window. It doesn’t have to be formal and it doesn’t have to take a lot of time. But choose something that helps to feed your spirit and do it every day.
Watch how your to-do list takes on a new meaning in the context of your ‘to-be’ time!
INSPIRATION FROM ROSEMARY: Your Spiritual Practice
My video for the week: Your Spiritual Practice
PS: Last Day, today, April 30! Spring Book Special: Get Your Woman On! Embracing Beauty, Grace and the Power of Women – The Amazon Best Selling book that Rosemary co-authored with some amazing women – is available this month at a very special price –$12 with free shipping in the US and some great bonuses! This would be an inspirational gift for Mother’s Day for a woman who would like to read 39 stories of transformation. Here’s how to get your copy: Book Sale
MONDAY’S POEM: Celebrate Emptiness
Because some days are just like this:
Celebrate Emptiness
Celebrate Emptiness as
The beginning of Fullness.
Inside of grief is always
Room for praise.
Buddha taught Shariputra
“Form is no other than emptiness.”
This completely relieves
Misfortune and pain.
When down there is always up.
When empty, only a filling.
Let the empty cup of grief be filled
With the joyous song of praise.
©2013 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
Stand Up or Stand Out?
Yesterday I posted a comment on Rosemary’s message from The Divine Feminine about living into the greater vision the Universe has in mind for us. And I challenged you and me to “stand up” and live that bigger vision, no matter how scary it might be!
Then I came across a story in an old favorite little book by Thomas Merton, The Way of Chuang Tzu, that I’m re-reading to refresh my mind and spirit about the Way, the Tao that Chuang Tzu so eloquently and deeply explored. Here is that story, The Man with One Foot and the Marsh Pheasant. I believe it speaks loudly to this theme of living into a greater vision of ourselves:
Kung Wen Hsien saw a maimed official
Whose left foot had been cut off–
A penalty in the political game!
“What kind of man,” he cried, “is this one-footed oddity?
How did he get that way? Shall we say
Man did this, or heaven?”
“Heaven,” he said, “this comes from
Heaven, not from man.
When heaven gave this man life, it willed
He should stand out from others
And sent him into politics
To get himself distinguished.
See! One foot! This man is different.”
The little marsh pheasant
Must hop ten times
To get a bite of grain.
She must run a hundred steps
Before she takes a sip of water.
Yet she does not ask
To be kept in a hen run
Though she might have all she desired
Set before her.
She would rather run
And seek her own little living
Uncaged.
As is so often the case with these stories from Taoism or Zen Buddhism, there is no clear cut moral to the story! On the surface we seem to hear that the Man with One Foot lived up to his charge from heaven – to “stand out.” But perhaps he over-reached his destiny, the “vision the Universe had in mind for him”! (Maybe this is a simple commentary on the “political game” as it was played then—a more dangerous one than today’s!).
Then there is the comparative lesson of the little marsh pheasant who sought her “little living uncaged.” I can presume that she is living in accordance with heaven’s will, nature’s choice. So often these Taoist stories urge a natural way of life, to go with the flow of the Tao.
For me the point of this story is not at all contradictory with the message from The Divine Feminine. The Universe (heaven) has big plans for us. We are standing on the backs of several thousand generations of human ancestry not to live small, to live caged, to live unnaturally with one foot. We are to stand up, not out. And yet, even if we are to lose a foot to the greater cause of living into our vision, is that too much?
There is a polarity to this story that seems to call for balance. We are called to stand up, but not out. We are called to live free as nature intended. And yet we are “called” by the Universe to live big. The story presents us with contrasts, the duality we so often face in daily routine. There is no right or wrong in this story of opposites. The story presents both sides. This complimentary nature of the Tao is a favorite theme of Chuang Tzu. And as Lao Tzu says in the Taoteching, Chapter 2:
All the world knows good
But if that becomes good
This becomes bad.
Follow your nature. And follow the Universe’s call. Stand up and be counted. And yes, there will be both good and bad consequences when you do. The “free” choice is yours!
What do you make of Chuang Tzu’s story?
Will the REAL YOU please stand up? – Richard’s Commentary
I don’t know about you but I was really struck by this message from The Divine Feminine posted yesterday! And I realize part of this message’s impact is the “memory” it hits. I think anyone reading this post knows the truth of this message about themselves! We are all here, now, in this time for a very specific purpose. We are here to be part of an enormous transformation. And it is time for the REAL Us to stand up! Here are the specific instructions from The Divine Feminine:
Expand your Consciousness to embrace the biggest version of YOU that you can imagine and then allow that to continue to expand. The Universe sees YOU as large as you REALLY are. Dissolve the limitations that you have put on yourself and BE THE BIGGER VISION OF YOU.
What does this mean? I have a perfect example of a couple of people doing this very thing. You may or may not know of Deva Premal & Miten, two artists who have made chanting mantras, both in Sanskrit and from other cultures in other languages, not only beautiful art but moving, spiritual experiences. Rosemary and I have all of their albums and listen to them regularly. We have attended their live performances and have been truly inspired. Here’s what they are now doing to embrace their biggest vision: they are offering a completely free 21-Day Mantra Meditation Journey over the internet. It just began on April 23rd and it is fantastic. What a wonderful way to start the day, with 15 minutes of these beautiful human beings introducing and then chanting a new mantra. Deva and Miten have stepped up to a higher level of offering Divine Chanting for the world!
You can still join us in on this journey; sign up here: Deva & Miten
We are all called to Stand Up! The Divine Feminine requests this and Deva Premal & Miten demonstrate a perfect example of what it means and how to do it.
It begins with an expanded consciousness; it begins with a “bigger vision of you.” We all have dreams, wishes, desires. Are these true visions of who we are and what we can be or are these fantasies of the “if only” category? Visions are dreams that can be actualized. They require motivation, planning, resources, scheduling and action. The Divine Feminine are not calling us to dream, they are calling us to Vision and Action. They are asking us to Stand Up!
What is my vision? I have outlined my first Qigong class! I plan to teach a 10-week program beginning in May. I have a marketing flier completed, class syllabus ready to go, sign-up/release form to print and a few ideas for marketing the class to local groups here in Maryland. I am excited not only to be doing this but with the notion that I am moving in a new direction and beginning to “stand up.” OK, a Qigong Class may not sound like a big leap, but it is a step.
And Rosemary and I are moving forward with other plans to expand programs and offer more to our local groups, followers and clients here in the Maryland area. We are also continuing to develop our online plans to bring what we offer to a wider, global audience. Rosemary’s voice already reaches around the world with her services to select international clients. She too, as the “Voice of The Divine Feminine” is stepping up and moving into a much bigger Vision of her Service to Humanity.
It really is time for all of us to Stand Up, to live into that greater vision we all sense about ourselves and the Universe knows about us!
Are you ready to Stand Up?
ROSEMARY’S EXPLORATION: Will the REAL YOU please stand up?
This week’s article is a message from The Divine Feminine:
Dear Ones,
Your work now is to be fully YOU. Who are you? Independent of your roles, your relationships, your duties and obligations. Who are you when no one is looking? Who are you in your dreams and fantasies?
What do you wish you could say? Say it.
What do you wish you could do? Do it.
Who do you want to be? Be that person.
There is nothing stopping you except you.
Who is limiting you? Only your beliefs and thoughts about you hold you back.
What is your relationship with money? If money seems to be a limiting factor in your life then you have cut off the flow of money to you and through you by defining a limiting belief about HOW money operates.
If, for example, you say, “I would like to travel but I don’t have the money,” then you are defining how you cannot travel and you are correct. If, however, you say to the Universe, “I would like to travel to ________ and I am grateful and eager to see how you will provide that trip,” then you allow the Universe many options for making that happen.
If you believe that you cannot make the money you need then you are only looking at a particular method of receiving money and, again, you limit the ways in which the Universe can bring money to you.
Be grateful. Be curious. Be open.
Be yourself.
Who must you BE to receive the money you desire
Be the powerful manifestor that you already are. Be in the flow of your Life Purpose. Be constantly grateful for the reality that is your Life, for the lessons you are learning, for the people who are helping you to learn those lessons. Be in touch with your Inner Child who is trying to feel safe, happy, protected and playful. Be creative, for you may have forgotten how to play and create. Be joyful, for Joy is a powerful magnet to attract more Joy into your Life.
Be who you are behind the limiting beliefs you have created about yourself. Stop defining yourself by the money you do or do not have. Stop confining yourself to what you used to believe and think.
Leap forward into possibilities that hold the most Joy for you.
You are there. You are here. You are the Light of the World. You are the Delight of the Universe.
Expand your Consciousness to embrace the biggest version of YOU that you can imagine and then allow that to continue to expand. The Universe sees YOU as large as you REALLY are. Dissolve the limitations that you have put on yourself and BE THE BIGGER VISION OF YOU.
And so it it.
Rosemary’s Comments:
I don’t know about you but I need the reminder to stop playing small. It seems much easier to focus on what seems do-able then to stretch into the bigger visions. Take a leap of faith! Reach for something that really scares you! Trust the Universe to support your bigger visions.
And I have learned that it is important to ask for help.
We asked the Universe for a house to rent and our friend asked for someone to rent her house. Voila! We move in August. It happens just that way when you trust.
PS: The final week of the Spring Book Special: Get Your Woman On! Embracing Beauty, Grace and the Power of Women – The Amazon Best Selling book that Rosemary co-authored with some amazing women – is available this April at a very special price – $12 with free shipping in the US and some great bonuses! This would be an inspirational gift for Mother’s Day for a woman who would like to read 39 stories of transformation. Here’s how to get your copy: Book Sale
INSPIRATION FROM ROSEMARY: Who Are You REALLY?
Rosemary’s video for the week: Who Are You REALLY?
PS: Book sale! Spring Book Special: Get Your Woman On! Embracing Beauty, Grace and the Power of Women – The Amazon Best Selling book that Rosemary co-authored with some amazing women – is available this month at a very special price –$12 with free shipping in the US and some great bonuses! This would be an inspirational gift for Mother’s Day for a woman who would like to read 39 stories of transformation. Here’s how to get your copy: Book Sale
Monday’s Poem: Faith
It was a tough week in many ways. Natural and unnatural disasters, a breakdown in the democratic experiment, even numbers don’t seem to hold much truth these days! I wrote this hanging out there somewhere between hope and despair:
Faith
A sense of the intrinsic goodness
of Life.
A connection to the evolving nature
of Consciousness.
A belief in something beyond the reach
of Humanity.
Are these tricks of the human mind?
Is there something beyond the matrix
We have built to protect our faith?
When we peer through the holes in
that matrix, the glitches that disrupt our
Flow, our faith
Grow large.
Faith in the matrix of military might
is not Life.
Faith that there is no connection between
drones and guns
is Unconsciousness.
Faith that someone or something out there
will save humanity
is naive.
Breathe down to your belly.
Feel there the vibrations of hope.
They quicken one’s own intrinsic goodness.
Find there the source of New Faith.
©2013 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
Men and The Goddess 